10 February 2014

A Presentation of the English Department's William J. and Yvonne Hyde Colloquium Series.

Dr. Kate Parker, English Department faculty member, will continue the English Department's 2013-2014 William J. and Yvonne Hyde Colloquium Series with a presentation entitled "Be Mine: Eliza Haywood's Reappropriation of French Erotic Philosophy." Her paper examines Haywood's eighteenth-century English translation of Le Sopha (1742), an erotic conte morale (moral "fairy-tale")by Crébillon fils. Parker details some suggestive inconsistencies in Haywood's translation, particularly in its reinterpretation of the original Sopha's depiction of aroused female bodies. As her translation becomes suffused with a philosophical critique of the Sopha's dominant sexual paradigm, these descriptions increasingly challenge the pervasive notion of female desire as consistently and (un)naturally responsive in eighteenth-century masculinist philosophy and pornography. The presentation runs from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on Friday, February 14th, in 113 Wimberly Hall. The event is free and open to the public. To arrange for disability accommodations, contact [email protected] or call 785-8295.